 |
 |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Employee Leasing Services in your area.
|
|
|
|
|
Card v. United States6/28/2001
w a "compelling interest." See Employment Div., Dep't of Human Res. of Oregon, 494 U.S. at 886 n.3.
Particularly in this case, where the prosecutor's explanations for striking Juror 333 slipped and slid between two suspect classifications, race and religion, and where religion-based discrimination based on membership in the Nation of Islam necessarily implied race as well, the trial court should have been particularly alert to the potential for unconstitutional discrimination in jury selection. Cf. J.E.B., 511 U.S. at 145 ("Failing to provide jurors the same protection against gender discrimination as race discrimination could frustrate the purpose of Batson itself. Because gender and race are overlapping categories, gender can be used as a pretext for racial discrimination."). At least one of the defendants in this case was not only Black, but also Muslim. See supra note 5; cf. Batson, 176 U.S. at 85-86 (stating that defendant's right to equal protection is violated by purposeful racial discrimination in the selection of the venire). The challenges to the prosecutor's strike were strenuously and timely pressed by defense counsel, making clear that, if left unexplored, the strike could call into question the ensuing trial. Cf. Baxter, 640 A.2d at 717 n.3 (reiterating "the importance, in cases of this kind, of alerting the judge to the issue as soon as a pattern allegedly emerges, so that a meaningful record can be made.").
It is always troubling to overturn a conviction that results from a crime as serious as the one at issue here, after a significant investment of judicial, prosecutorial and defense resources. The proper course was to address the issue squarely in the trial court, by questioning the potential juror to establish, first, whether he is a member of the presumed religious group, and, if so, whether his beliefs are such that they disqualify him from serving on this particular jury. As this was not done, and a prima facie case has been made that Juror 333 was excluded based on his presumed membership in the Nation of Islam, reversal is required.
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 District of Columbia Employee Leasing Services
Employee Leasing Services
|
| |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Employee Leasing Services in your area.
|
|